What does design mean to you?

In early startups specially in b2b, product designers are not designers they're rather design support. Always restricted to reach till minimum viable ux. Though whatever gets shipped at the end is better from past but power of shaping product is largely placed at PM's table and engeneering table (feasibility). Now you can avoid complaing and show high agency, partner with PM in defining Product but the default power house is still PM, not the designer. Also you don't have time for this because designs need to shipped to add to next sprint. At the end you just take a deep breath and sigh because you made something better, bit better if not far from what existed before. I guess high impact/ product definition work gets done by designer in big orgs only not only early age startups.

Whenever I overhear someone say that, "Can you just make it fast? It's just a simple design, so it shouldn't take long, right?" it makes me a little pukish. 🤡

Good design is seamless and intuitive, making tasks feel effortless. Poor design, however, stands out because it disrupts the user experience, causing frustration and drawing attention to its flaws. In my first job, I spent weeks perfecting a report template, streamlining data presentation and enhancing readability. It was used without comment. Later, I hurriedly created a less refined version for a different project. My manager berated me for the confusing layout, yet never acknowledged the efficiency of the initial template.

Cred is overly done and confusing now. It is like a nightmare for designers. What has been done on the app bro. Ek cheeze dhundhne me itna time lag raha

Field is saturated and you will seriously struggle to find work. Not gate keeping, just laying out the reality. If you're up for the challenge then good, if not then you should look at some other fields. Product design is kind of weird now and is tougher than you think. It is no more a creative field where you can come up with unique ideas or have fun creating stuff. It is intoxicating, tedious and requires constant fighting with the stakeholders, listening to your micro managers and implementing stuff they "ordered" you to do disguised as feedback. Did I say, it is mostly copy work nowadays and portraying it as a whole new feature/design that is unique to your org/team? It’s 1% creativity, 99% stroking the ego of your managers and bosses just so you don't get laid off. (Not at capgemini, burner account)

Sometime i jump directly into visuals. I have strong visual craft skills and can do motion design as well. I do not overthink while designing small popups or bottomsheets. I admire Cred’s design a lot.

Really excited to do this! Here's a little bit about my career: - I dropped out of college to build a design studio with 20+ people for 4 years before leaving that to start another studio. - I’ve worked across most major startups in Bangalore (not including brand names here for anonymity) - I’ve worked across brand identity design, UX/UI, social media marketing, ad films, animation/motion graphics, and 3D Happy to answer questions about design, freelancing, starting an agency/studio, the design industry, etc.

Trying to see companies that people here have had the dream to join, but didn’t ultimately work out. Have you now grown over it?